I am SO excited to be kicking off our 3rd Candelaria Design Tour Spain! 16 of my 22 total travelers will be departing Phoenix this Wednesday afternoon, May 29th, and we will be arriving in Barcelona, Spain the afternoon of Thursday May 30th. Five of my travelers are already in Europe. My wife, Isabel, and two of our best friends and clients we are currently designing a home for just arrived in Rome and will be near Positano on the Amalfi Coast sourcing materials. Two more of my travelers couldn’t wait to get started so they left for Barcelona and are already there exploring. The five of them will all meet us in Barcelona on Thursday.

Needless to say, we are so excited and I have an amazing itinerary with tours of the works of Gaudi, Tapas and culinary tours in Barcelona, Granada and San Sebastián, Turkish Baths in Granada, tours of the Alhambra, cooking classes in San Sebastián, and Flamenco dancing in Adalusian caves just to name a few adventures on this year’s journey. 

Follow us right here on our blog and on our social media. We have two amazing photographers/videographers coming so we will be sharing some spectacular content along the way. 

Today is a very special day also in that it is the two year anniversary of when Isabel and I heard the doctors say those words know one ever wants to hear….”I’m sorry, but you have cancer.” So much goes through your mind when you hear that but the first thing we said to each other was let’s keep living and we will just do our best to follow God’s plan whatever that may be. Our first Spain Tour was just a few weeks away and the docs said to go ahead and go and Isabel could start chemo when she returned. That proved to be great advice as we realized it was in fact important to keep living and living we did. Despite 16 chemo treatments, surgery, and 33 radiation treatments, including treatment number 30 where they told Isabel she now had a brain tumor we kept living our lives. On treatment 33 they did a radiation mega zap and eliminated what was left of her breast cancer and hit a bullseye on the brain cancer. 

Now two years later, Isabel actually just arrived on the Amalfi Coast in Italy with our two best friends and clients who are building a new home virtually a block away from where we live. My angel keeps going and keeps  #inspiringlivingas we like to hashtag all the time. Thank you to all of you for being there for both of us and for praying for my Isabel. 

To celebrate and to keep this fight going I volunteered my time and my team’s time to the Arizona Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and their annual fundraiser Man and Woman of the Year. This is the last week to give and their Gala is next week so I hope you find some time to GIVE to this amazing organization that makes such a difference in so many lives. The progress we have seen in the two years this became a part of our world is astounding. 

https://pages.mwoy.org/az/az19/mcandelari

I want to thank my Assistant, Stacey Payne, who has really done so much to make my campaign go and operate! Her brother was fighting cancer he same time Isabel was and her brother also survived. We had many mornings together wondering what was ahead for those that were so dear to us. We both feel honored to have a chance to say thank you.

Thanks to David Neishabori and Azadi Fine Rugs  https://azadifinerugs.com/?keyword_session_id=vt~adwords%7Ckt~%7Cmt~b%7Cta~324572288331&_vsrefdom=wordstream&gclid=CjwKCAjw8qjnBRA-EiwAaNvhwCAGdNqF80b8lNqmFWWaLerH-VN8acJpVrGXA75DVLXC7hDk-cEi-hoCBwIQAvD_BwE

for the full page add in this month’s Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine on behalf of this fund raiser. Man, you are an amazing friend and a good person to have in our design community. God bless you. 

Thanks to all the others who have donated silent auction items, including a beautiful handmade jacket from Evan Delaney, an amazing painting from artist, Kathy Henneman, a signed jersey from Larry Fitzgerald, and we are auctioning off two spots flying business class to and from ITLAY for this year’s 2019 Candelaria Design Tour Italy. We will be sending out the link for this auction item this week with all of the proceeds going to the fundraiser. 

As you can see I have a lot of “THANKS” – so much to be grateful for that is for sure. We have been busy too. Check out our videos on our Candelaria Design Channel on YouTube and on our website. We have posted some fun videos of our homes and our cooking including last weekend’s trip to Flagstaff where we did some cooking in our Mountain Lodge at Pine Canyon. 

Another thank you to Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine for our feature of our Candelaria Design home in Montecito in the June Issue https://indd.adobe.com/view/8c3250a0-8c92-40c4-a03c-147fbdf1ce2d. More to come on this one but such an amazing story. This is the second home we have designed for this amazing couple who have become true lifelong friends and in fact were at Isabel and my wedding at Lake Como. How’s that???? Also, so proud to have made the cover with this truly memorable home. Special thanks and kudos to my associate and Project Architect, Jeff Kramer AIA, Donna Vallone and Shane Mehrer of Vallone Design https://www.vallonedesign.com and Landscape Designer Puck Erickson of Arcadia Studio http://www.arcadiastudio.com for their masterful collaboration on this beautiful legacy project.

Finally, I will close with a thank you to LUXE Magazine and our second RED award in as many years for Best Classical Architecture in the Arizona Region https://luxeredawards.com https://luxeredawards.com/2019_regional_winner/candelaria-design-associates/#.XOroTi_Mwn0 for a home we took over during framing and converted the design from a ranch style to a classic French Revival. The home was built by Brimley Development http://www.brimdev.com/#home.html

with Interiors by DeCesare Design Group http://decesaredesigngroup.com

Ok time to go pack, get a couple renderings done, and get the Traeger fired up for some short rib red chile enchiladas tonight! See you in Spain! Adios.